I finally got around to reading Purple Cow by Seth Godin. I know, in today’s standards of time, a five-year old book might as well be Gilgamesh. But I found its “aged” information to be quite enjoyable, and one page in particular is still stuck in my head. Its header simply read “Cheating,” and it went on to briefly describe eight high-profile companies and how they are doing just that. Here are a few of the book’s examples:

  • Starbucks is cheating. The coffee bar phenomenon was invented by them, and now whenever we think of coffee, we think Starbucks.
  • Amazon.com is cheating. Their free shipping and huge selection give them an unfair advantage over the neighborhood store.
  • HBO is cheating. Because they have to program original shows only one night a week, HBO can focus and invest and cream the networks.

Godin then elaborates, explaining that “none of these companies are using the old-fashioned advertising-based techniques to win. To their entrenched (but nervous) competitors, these companies appear to be cheating because they’re not playing by the rules.”

He ends the topic with a clear question: “Why aren’t you cheating?” But by that time, most readers are probably wondering the same thing.

In this fast-paced business environment, it’s often true that new businesses entering old markets with old intentions die quickly. You simply have to position yourself in the white space, the untapped (or poorly tapped) niche markets, if you want to be relevant and succeed. Cheating, in Godin’s sense, is doing just that. It requires that you look at what’s been done, and opt for innovation instead of renovation. While this concept isn’t wholly original, his framing of it is.

It wouldn’t be a stretch to add Twitter, Zappos.com, and Apple to the list of modern-day cheaters. They were all once underdogs in their respective categories, but through their attention to detail and targeted, remarkable offerings, they’ve become staples of their industries.

As Godin iterates in his book, it’s always easy to look back and say, “Of course that worked, it’s obvious.” But it’s not nearly as easy to actually make something work and appear obvious.

Luckily, we can always cheat.